CLIENT ATTACHMENT TO THERAPIST: RELATION TO CLIENT PERSONALITY AND SYMPTOMATOLOGY, AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE THERAPEUTIC ALLIANCE

This study examined the relation of client attachment to the therapist to diverse facets of the therapeutic alliance, client personality, and psychopathological symptoms, as well as the relative importance of therapeutic attachments, personality, and symptomatology in predicting the alliance. Eighty...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.) Ill.), 2010-12, Vol.47 (4), p.454-468
Main Authors: BACHELOR, ALEXANDRA, MEUNIER, GISÈLE, LAVERDIÈRE, OLIVIER, GAMACHE, DOMINICK
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjustment Disorders - psychology
Adjustment Disorders - therapy
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Anorexia Nervosa - psychology
Anorexia Nervosa - therapy
Anxiety Disorders - psychology
Anxiety Disorders - therapy
Attachment
Attachment Behavior
Character
Client attachment
Clients
Cooperative Behavior
Female
Human
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Mental Disorders - psychology
Mental Disorders - therapy
Middle Aged
Mood Disorders - psychology
Mood Disorders - therapy
Object Attachment
Outpatient
Personality
Personality Disorders - psychology
Personality Disorders - therapy
Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data
Professional-Patient Relations
Psychometrics
Psychopathology
Psychotherapeutic Outcomes
Psychotherapy
Symptoms
Therapeutic Alliance
Therapeutic alliances
Therapists
Treatment Outcome
Young Adult
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Summary:This study examined the relation of client attachment to the therapist to diverse facets of the therapeutic alliance, client personality, and psychopathological symptoms, as well as the relative importance of therapeutic attachments, personality, and symptomatology in predicting the alliance. Eighty clients in ongoing therapy completed measures of client attachment to therapist (CATS), personality (6FPQ), psychopathological symptoms (BSI), and therapeutic alliance (WAI-Short, CALPAS, HAQ). Secure and Avoidant-Fearful attachment to the therapist correlated positively and negatively, respectively, with total and subscale alliance scores. Preoccupied-Merger therapeutic attachment was unrelated to the alliance. Exploratory analyses suggested however that the relationship between Preoccupied-Merger attachment and the alliance was moderated by the extent to which clients were distressed. Clients' therapeutic attachments were unrelated to basic personality dimensions. Preoccupied-Merger attachment to the therapist correlated significantly with several symptom dimensions. Clients' therapeutic attachments emerged as superior and more consistent predictors, relative to client personality and symptomatology, of the therapeutic alliance.
ISSN:0033-3204
1939-1536
DOI:10.1037/a0022079